TITLE:
Cretaceous Large Igneous Provinces (LIPs) Affect Sedimentary Processing: Jordan, Arabian Plate; NW Germany, Central Europe
AUTHORS:
Werner Schneider, Elias Salameh
KEYWORDS:
Degassing, Explosive Tuff, Acid Rain, Climate Forcing, Photosynthesis, Mineral Trans/Neoformation, Lithofacies Modified, Synsedimentary Tectonics
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Geology,
Vol.14 No.6,
June
25,
2024
ABSTRACT: Both the NE Gondwana Platform (Jordan) and the Carpathian/NW Europe Seaway towards the N Atlantic expose comparable sequence analytical patterns as i.e. the Maximum Flooding Surface (MSF), relating to the Arabian Shelf, throughout one of the warmest Phanerozoic Epochs. Supervolcanic Large Igneous Provinces (LIPs), (explosive island arc andesitic volcanism), Mid-Oceanic Rift Basalts (MORB), (S/N Atlantic, Arctic) and kimberlitic volcanism (W Gondwana) provided striking conditions for an immense influence (tuff, degassing, T) on the sedimentary processing throughout the Cretaceous, mainly verified by K-montmorillonite , dozens of tuff beds (predominantly in NW Germany), zeolite, cristobalite, extremely high chert occurrences as well as the reconfirming of the global anoxic event around the Cenomanian/Turonian b. (94 Ma) by a positive ∂13C-maximum (~0.5%). Thus the lithofacies spectrum (carbonate rocks, chalk, chert, porcellanite, shale) was affected by pH, Eh, T, photosynthesis, and greenhouse gases—change during varying positive/negative climate forcing. While acid sturzrain events caused the transformation of arkosic/subarkosic sediments of the hinterlands to quartz arenite cycles deposited on the Jordanian Platform during early Cretaceous, the other patterns mentioned, led to a rapid change of lithofacies through Late Cretaceous. The southward directed Neotethys transgression can be reconstructed during the Early Cretaceous by glauconite-aged tidalites that give hint on transpressional tectonics during the Upper Cenomanian east of the Dead Sea. The Cretaceous/Paleogene (K-Pg) transitional zone evidences a zone of several cumulative events (island arc-volcanism) and the Chicxulub impact, indicated by at least two extinctions phases. The southward obduction of the Palmyrides, Syria and related transtensional/transpressional strike slip tectonics (partially pull-apart structures) left a fast facies change on the Jordanian Platform.